In fact it has become so routine, that when it is posed to a man, it's hard not to feel a jolt. This week, for instance, it was actor Daniel Radcliffe telling Time Out he "definitely want[s] to have kids", because of the "wonderful change" they bring to a parent's life. It's unclear whether Radcliffe offered up his opinion unprompted, or was quizzed directly about his desire to procreate. But what is certain is that female celebrities are seldom spared being questioned about their fertility.

Being just out of your teens, like Gomez, is no barrier ("Oh my God no" was her not unreasonable reaction to the question recently. "I'm not even 21 yet!"). And those celebrities whose child-bearing years are behind them don't escape either: the question simply changes. So 59-year-old Oprah Winfrey is routinely asked if she regrets not having children. Even having had a baby doesn't stop it. In a Hello! interview this week, Julia Bradbury felt the need to defend why she did not start having children sooner. Mirren appears to be asked about little else; a quick flick through her interviews finds her discussing her child-free lifestyle in Vogue this month, the Observer in 2011, and on Australian TV in 2007.

The message is clear: no matter how successful a woman is in her chosen profession, her ultimate purpose is to be a mother – and any deviation from this biological destiny is fascinating enough to be pored over endlessly.

Zooey Deschanel: 'It's my pet peeve when people press you on [whether or not you want to have kids].' Photograph: Picture Perfect/Rex Features Picture Perfect / Rex Features/Picture Perfect / Rex Features

This week actor Julianne Moore snapped in DuJour magazine: "Men aren't asked about their children … I do feel it becomes reductive when a woman's life becomes, 'Talk to me about your kids and how you feel about plastic surgery.'"

So could this be the death of what feminist website Jezebel calls the "unsolicited uterus update"? Probably not, but at least more celebrities are learning to keep mum.